Top Southern Baptist official breaks pledge, endorses Romney

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Washington Post

Top Southern Baptist official breaks pledge, endorses Romney
21 minutes ago
By David Gibson| Religion News Service,

Breaking a longstanding personal pledge, Southern Baptist leader Richard Land has endorsed GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, saying next week’s election is the most important since Abraham Lincoln’s win in 1860 and he can no longer stay silent.

“America is at a fork in the road and must choose between a President Barack Obama who wants to remake America in the model of a European welfare state and a Governor Mitt Romney who wants to restore a more economically vibrant and traditionally moral America,” Land wrote in an Oct. 26 column in the Christian Post.

Land, who is executive editor of the independent Christian Post and the top public policy spokesman for the SBC, said the “stark and revealing” differences between the Republicans and Democrats on abortion rights and same-sex marriage guided his decision.

“For Christians of traditional religious faith, there cannot be more fundamental issues than the protection of the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death and the defense of marriage as a divinely-ordained institution between one man and one woman,” he wrote.


Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/top-southern-baptist-official-breaks-pledge-endorses-romney/2012/10/30/06e615e2-22c4-11e2-92f8-7f9c4daf276a_story.html

[Nay]

1. Soooo. . . when does his church's tax exemption get yanked? Oh, that's right -- never.

[24601]

23. Especially because he didn't preach it in church but wrote an op-ed. Chilling thought however,

attacking people with through IRS for expressing an opinion. And were you talking about all Southern Baptist Churches? That includes a lot of African American congregations.

[2pooped2pop]

27. all churches that involve themselves in the political process needs

to lose their tax exemption.

[LanternWaste]

47. To what precise degree?

"involve themselves in the political process..."

To what precise degree? And do we apply this standard to any tax-exempt organization which also express a political opinion, e.g., public charities?


What seems to be lost in the rush to tax churches for their political opinions, is that only the biggest, most lucrative churches will be able to afford it-- and take a wild guess as to which party those particular churches will support, and then take another wild guess as to which political party the poorer, inner-city and small suburban churches that would not be able to bear the tax support?

Ofttimes I think dogma supersedes thinking things through in a clear manner... especially in those who profess no dogma.

[Posteritatis]

2. I am, of course, astonished at a Southern Baptist leader being a hypocrite.

A good friend of mine's a BJU survivor (her term, not mine), and wow have her tales of her post-college experience been an eyeopener about a lot of the baptists.

[Cigar11]

3. It's a Free Country /

[SoapBox]

4. Say what?

"...choose between a President Barack Obama who wants to remake America in the model of a European welfare state and a Governor Mitt Romney who wants to restore a more economically vibrant and traditionally moral America,”

Uhhhh, ya...right.

Asshole.

[msongs]

5. southern baptists still haven't gotten over Lincoln "freeing the slaves" nt

[bocaoma]

20. these evangelical types are America's Taliban............

they are dangerous home schooler racists!

[oldbanjo]

29. Very good comment I agree.

[FVZA_Colonel]

46. I don't know where precisely you'd place Lincoln on today's political spectrum,

but I know he find these people less than contemptable.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

6. "Since Lincoln"

Like this asshat would have supported Lincoln. Maybe he should look at how the South Baptist Convention came to be and how they reacted to the civil rights movement. It was largely a white supremacist church.

[exboyfil]

12. Definitely would have been a Beckenridge

supporter in 1860. Possibly Bell I guess. Never Douglas. And Lincoln oh my.

[winstars]

19. His "Since Lincoln" comment to me means that he would have voted against Lincoln and so...

this election is important to him because the last time look what happened, slaves freed and all that...

[coalition_unwilling]

36. +1,000,000,000 x 1,000,000,000 - Well put and definitely

needed saying.

[Arkansas Granny]

7. This is the same man to whom GWB was speaking when he said that he thought

God wanted him to be President.
-----
On the day that George W. Bush was sworn into his second term as governor of Texas, friend and adviser Dr. Richard Land recalls Bush making an unexpected pronouncement.

"The day he was inaugurated there were several of us who met with him at the governor's mansion," says Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. "And among the things he said to us was, 'I believe that God wants me to be president.'"

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jesus/etc/synopsis.html

[DollarBillHines]

13. Yeah, and that really turned out swell.

I thing God is a pretty crappy Handicapper.

[elbloggoZY27]

8. Religious Beliefs

Religion needs to stay out of politics but I support your Religious Beliefs and your followers. However, I support followers of their particular faith also.

This is what makes the United States great.

As far as the Presidential Elections I will do as I have done since I was able to vote.

Keep my vote totally private.

[Robb]

9. Lest we forget which one he is: Richard "Obama's trying to gin up the black vote with Trayvon" Land.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/14/trayvon-martin-case-splits-baptists_n_1426168.html

Land says he stands by his assertion that President Barack Obama "poured gasoline on the racialist fires" when he addressed Martin's slaying and that Obama, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton have used the case "to try to gin up the black vote for an African American president who is in deep, deep, deep trouble for re-election."

Land, who is white, said in an interview he has no regrets about his remarks. He said he understands why the case has touched a nerve among black leaders, but he also defended the idea that people are justified in seeing young black men as threatening: A black man is "statistically more likely to do you harm than a white man."

[freshwest]

11. Thanks, I did not where that racist scumbag was coming from. Lincoln, indeed!

[Gidney N Cloyd]

10. Choke on it, Mitt.

Land’s endorsement comes just as Romney’s campaign has been trying to cast the candidate in a moderate light by downplaying the Republican’s views on abortion and gay rights and saying voters should not expect him to take significant action on those social issues if he is elected.

While Land has been deeply involved in Republican politics for years, he has always vowed never to endorse a particular candidate. In July 2011, when it was reported that he was actively backing Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s primary bid for the GOP nomination, Land issued a statement declaring “I do not endorse candidates, and I have not and will not endorse Gov. Perry or any other candidate for that matter.”

But Land’s endorsement — which he said he was making as a private citizen — also comes with significant baggage.
<snip>
They included racially-charged comments that Land made on his radio show about the Trayvon Martin shooting case, as well as evidence that he was lifting some of his program scripts from other sources without attribution. The controversies resulted in an official reprimand, the loss of his radio talk show and led to the announcement of his retirement.

[uwbadgerdem]

15. Haha, "Mitt the Moderate"

That's as big of a joke as "Ohio is a Dead Heat" and "Mittmentum."

[byeya]

14. The Southern Baptists were formed to defend and PROMOTE slavery and the KKK

amounts to the terrorist arm of this sect.

The KKK not only terrorized African Americans but ran Jews and Roman Catholics out of the rural areas as far north as Indiana and Ohio.

[24601]

24. At its annual convention in 2012, the SBC unanimously elected as president Fred Luter Jr., the first

African American to hold the position. Interesting definition of racism you have.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

28. Like we say at Wrigley, anyone can have a bad century.

[kelliekat44]

30. Knowing what all Baptists and evangelicals were saying about Mormons until this election makes me

doubt the real beliefs of anyone who calls them selves "Christians." Had Obama been a Mormon and anti-abortion guess whom this man would be supporting now? Being president of the SBC can be tolerated by most whites but being President of the US is something different to them.

[24601]

31. Do you know many Southern Baptists? I'd say thay care more about their church leadership than

any politician.

[defacto7]

42. I do.

They care more about their dogma than they do the American people.

[radicalliberal]

44. Too little, too late ...

But it is a good PR move.

[bamacrat]

16. Tax the hell out of this asshole.

I would rant but..

[madrchsod]

17. i guess it`s that "your enemy is my enemy" thing.

[ck4829]

18. What happened to social issues not being important?

[Permanut]

21. Okay, so we can vote for a Christian or a Mormon..

and you're advising us to vote for the Mormon. I get it.

I'm not sure how that squares up with statements by R. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, as reported by Michelle Vu, in the Christian Post Reporter, July 27, 2007

Evangelical Theologian: Mormons are not Christians

Mormons believe in a false gospel and are not Christians, concluded one of the nation’s preeminent evangelicals in what appeared to be the close of an online debate over Mormonism.

“Here is the bottom line. As an Evangelical Christian – a Christian who holds to the ‘traditional Christian orthodoxy’ of the Church – I do not believe that Mormonism leads to salvation,” wrote Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, on Wednesday evening.

“To the contrary, I believe that it is a false gospel that, however sincere and kind its adherents may be, leads to eternal death rather than to eternal life,” he stated.

[They_Live]

22. Tax the churches.

NOW!

[Zoeisright]

25. That's even more reason not to vote for that lying asshole Rmoney.

[themaguffin]

26. "I can't stay silent anymore with a black man in office"

[24601]

32. Unfortunate you feel that way.

[redwitch]

33. I think themaguffin ws referring to the pastor. nt

[24601]

40. The "quote" wasn't in the story. So themaguffin is the apparent author and now has

full ownership of the quote.

[mike_c]

41. I'm sorry you can't appreciate irony....

eom

[yardwork]

34. Fuck him.

I've reached my breaking point with these so-called Christian assholes. Fuck them. I mean it.

[McCamy Taylor]

35. Another Southern Baptist for polytheism!

Make that the NINE Commandments.

[struggle4progress]

37. Land is a racist prig: he started a major scandal back in April with his racist spew,

and the Southern Baptist Convention had to take some steps against him

[Cha]

38. Leave it to a Southern Baptist Church leader to be so

damn ignorant as to not even knowing what the hell he's endorsing. Is that what his church is all about too..ignorance and lies?

[defacto7]

43. He's not endorsing Romney,

He's not endorsing the US, he's not endorsing his party or the rights of the American people, or the people of the world for that matter.

He's endorsing his dogma. No more, no less.

[mfcorey1]

39. Another one:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/under-god/post/the-importance-of-this-election/2012/10/08/67e3c9fe-1197-11e2-ba83-a7a396e6b2a7_blog.html

All Southern Baptist including Billy Graham.

[VPStoltz]

45. "For Christians of traditional religious faith,..." Does this moron know Robbedme is a Mormon?

There is nothing traditional about that.
Don't mean to step on any Progressive Mormon toes, I see ALL religions/sects/cults/secret societies, etc. as a "opiates of the masses."

[randome]

48. It's always about money with these ones, isn't it?

[littlemissmartypants]

49. Southern Baptist is just code

for flip flop, two faced... G.R.I.T.S. ... know.